So in high anticipation of one hell of a concert tomorrow night at the Target Center in Minneapolis, I'd like to share my TOP 5 U2 CONCERT MEMORIES!!
#5 - At the Elevation Tour stop in Minneapolis, Claire and I were there at 5am and she was #7 in line, I was #8 (I wanted 7 but decided to be a nice guy.... her boyfriend Jeff is bigger than me). So knowing we'd be next to the stage for the concert, we made posters to take in and try to get even more attention! I worked with my buddies from IBM Ireland to get the Gaelic translation of Beautiful Day. So my poster said Lá álainn. Before the concert, one of the tour promoters who runs a daily blog on the band's webpage came out to see what posters were there (usually they would get a reference in the blog). She was Irish and when she saw my poster, she said "Beautiful Day - that's Brilliant!" When the band first came out, Bono was of course in his own world from the beginning, but I watched as the Edge scanned the crowd in front and reading all the posters.... he had to do a double take on mine, but then realized what it was and started smiling:) It was pretty sweet!
#4 - Two days later, I was waiting in line in front of the Bradley Center with Claire yet again.... she disappeared to find a restroom and while I was waiting in line (further back this time... probably #30 and 31 in line this time) she called my cell phone and said "Bono is back here signing autographs.... but keep it quiet and bring something for him to sign". So I went back to the tail end of the Center and was able to get Bono's autograph and wish him a Happy Birthday (it was actually the following day but close enough). We just missed Larry signing autographs. I told Claire she should have had Bono sign her boob and then she could be a true U2 roadie!
#3 - Recently we saw the Vertigo Tour in Chicago (which is what we'll see again tomorrow night). We arrived on a colder rainy morning at 8am in front of the United Center for a Monday night show. I think we were #120 and #121 in line (some were there days ahead of time) but proceeded to sit there all day. Funny thing was finding a wireless router to jump on with my laptop as we waited... ironic but still funny. We met some friendly folks but as we waited we started hearing rumors that this concert was the night that the DVD was being filmed. There was a DVD crew going around all day filming us in line, having people sing for the camera, share U2 stories... it was pretty funny. Sure enough, they gave us a pep talk before the concert to get the crowd even more into it. It'll be cool to see me on the DVD this fall when it comes out. I threw Claire up on my shoulders when the band was right in front of us on thellipsese to make sure she gets on the DVD. More news as it gets released!
#2 - Metrodome - My first U2 concert was Pop Mart at the Metrodome back in the 90s. We started in the 3rd row but as soon as U2 came out, we jumped to the front row and scooted towards the middle. That was an awesome concert, but my favorite part was Bono being right in front of Claire and I for Pride (In the Name of Love) and when he got to the best part where everyone was singing "oh oh oh ohhhh.... oh oh oh ohhhh", he looked down at us in the crowd and pulled Claire up on stage..... just kidding, making sure you were paying attention. No, but he turned to the band and had them cut out to hear the 50,000 or whatever was there singing in unison. We did that for at least 2 minutes before he bowed and said thank you for the experience. Pretty dang sweet. Sorry, Claire wanted to get on stage for If You Wear That Velvet Dress but failed to get up there. We'll keep trying though.
#1 - And of course my favorite memory (ironic that this song just jumped up on iTunes as well out of the 700+ U2 songs I have on here) was during Sunday Bloody Sunday while we were at the Target Center. Front row with my Irish flag (bought in Dublin) and warned before the concert by Bono's body guard that (in cool Irish accent) "if Bono takes your flag, you probably won't get it back" - I said that's ok. Sure enough, during this song, Bono slowly reached down and took my Irish flag and dragged it across the stage. Then he picked it up as if it were a wounded soldier and eventually laid it across a speaker on the far side of the stage where it sat for the rest of the concert. Enjoy these pictures of that experience:
So of course after the concert, as the crew is cleaning the stage, we yell that I need my flag back. She went to get it and as she's getting ready to throw it at me in the crowd, I can sense about 6 high school aged girls coming up as if they even think they're going to steal my flag from me. So as soon as the flag was tossed, I was on crowd control and pushed back the kids and was able to successfully snag my flag back from their grasps. The flag is now in my office and hanging with pride after spending a concert on stage with one of the greatest ever.
Song of the Day - Beautiful Day by U2. Best part is the repeat of the chorus towards the end where they drop the bass line an octave and crank the volume. Sounds great in my TrailBlazer!
Video of the Day - Elevation DVD by U2. My buddy Siddhartha in Austin claims that this is the "greatest DVD to create mood and atmosphere for any visiting ladies". Ok, maybe not in those exact words but I'm trying to keep this pretty clean.
Webpage of the Day - http://www.u2.com Simple I know, but I want to get this posted before my morning meeting.
ENJOY AND LISTEN TO MORE U2!!! IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!
2 comments:
You need to get backstage passes so you can talk politics with Bono. Or do they only let females get those?
Brent Wieman is a cool guy. I went to college with him.
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